India, April 24 -- A Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday raised serious concerns over the shortage of ventilators in hospitals, observing that statistical claims hold little value if critical care equipment is not accessible to patients in time.

Hearing a PIL, a division bench of Justices Rajan Roy and Manjive Shukla questioned whether any hospital could state on affidavit that a ventilator would be provided promptly whenever required.

The court remarked that if such assurance cannot be given, the data submitted on ventilator availability becomes meaningless.

The bench stressed that the focus should be on ensuring adequate availability of ventilators so that no life is lost due to their shortage.

It expressed dissat...